Bartolomeu Dias

See also: Dias

Bartolomeu Dias (pron. IPA baɾtulu' mew 'diɐʃ ; francized in: Barthélémy Diaz ) (towards 1450 in Algarve - May 29th 1500 with broad of the Cape of Good Hope) is an explorer Portuguese. His ancestors are not known but it had a brother Diogo Dias. It is known only that one of his parents, Denis Dias E Fernandes, during the decade of 1440, would have ordered maritime forwardings along the coast of the North of the Africa, discovering the Cap Verde and the island of Gorée.

During its youth, Bartolomeu would have attended the courses of Mathématiques and Astronomie of the university of Lisbon and was soldier in the fortress of São Jorge de Mina. It was able to determine the coordinates of the place and to face the calm storms and them like those of the Golfe of Guinea.
In 1486, It was charged by the king Jean II with Portugal with continuing explorations of Diogo Cão along Africa and the command of two caravels and a shuttle of vivres gave him. The acknowledged goal of forwarding was to have news of the Prêtre Jean but in fact, it was a question of studying the possibility of the existence of a sea route towards Indes.
That led it to be the first Westerner to double the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. It named it course of the Storms because of the storms that it had wiped there; but the king Jean II preferred to call it Cape of Good Hope, because he hoped, rightly, that this discovery would open the Route of the Indies.
Forwarding left Lisbon in August 1487, having on board two negros and four Negresses captured by Diogo Cão on the Western coast of Africa. Fed well and equipped, they will be unloaded on the Eastern coast to show with the populations these areas the kindness and the size of Portuguese and at the same time to collect information on the kingdom of the Jean Priest.
In December, it reached the current coast of the Namibia, at the southernmost point on the dispatch cards of Diogo Cão. Continuing towards the south, he discovered initially Angra back Ilhéus before being surprised by violent a tempête.
Après to have wandered during 13 days, he strongly used the winds coming from the blowing Antarctic in the South Atlantic and sailed towards the North-East redécouvrant the coast which, already, there had the East-West and northern orientation (already in the East of the Cape of Good Hope). Bartolomeu Dias continued towards the east, drawing up the chart of various bays of the coast of current South Africa and arriving at the Baie of Algoa at 800 km at the east of the Cape of Good Hope.
However, the revolted crew obliged it to return to Portugal by the coast towards the west. With the return, being always for the coast, he discovered the Cape of the Needles, the point more in the South of the continent and the current Cape of the Storms Cape of Good Hope which he had circumvented in open sea to go. It arrived at Lisbon in December 1488.

It accompanied Vasco de Gama at the time of its voyage in India in 1497 and which passed to São Jorge da Mina (in current Ghana).

In 1500, it accompanied Pedro Álvares Cabral in her famous voyage where this one discovered the Brésil. When the fleet continued towards the Indies, the ship of Bartolomeu Dias naufragea and it died close to the Cape of Good Hope.
Bartolomeu Dias was the first navigator to be sailed out of sight of the coast in the South Atlantic. Its voyage continued by Vasco de Gama, opened the maritime Chemin towards the Indies.
The letter of Pero Vaz de Caminha refers many to this sailor, underlining the confidence which Cabral granted to him.

Others

He is only Portuguese to be represented twice of continuation on two banknotes Portuguese. On the tickets of 2000 escudos (approximately 10 euros) first of all of 1991 to 1993, then of 1994 until the passage to the euro.

Partial source

the article in the Portuguese-speaking version of Wikipedia

Simple: Bartolomeu Dias

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